


Advent 15

by darksquall, lanapanda



Series: Science Boys Advent 2012 [12]
Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: #fluff, Advent 2012, Fluff, M/M, advent fic, fluff fluff fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-30
Updated: 2012-12-30
Packaged: 2017-11-22 22:41:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/615173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darksquall/pseuds/darksquall, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanapanda/pseuds/lanapanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The clean up throws a spanner in the works of the wedding and Bruce and Tony get some bad news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Advent 15

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The characters and places contained herein do not belong to me and I am making no money from this.

He was there because Tony trusted his instincts over anyone else.

Bruce knew that there were other options to detect explosives – ones that had already been applied in other areas of the city – but Tony wanted him nearby. Partly because if he were to encounter another explosive device it wouldn’t put lives at risk, partly because Tony wanted him close enough to keep an eye on.

He’d just finished walking the streets around the wreckage that Tony and the others were cleaning up when his phone began to ring. He pulled it out, checked who was calling and answered it as he stepped into a side street, out of the way of the clean-up efforts, somewhere it would be a little quieter. “Banner.”

“Doctor Banner, this is Elena from Parisi catering? I’m afraid we won’t be able to cater your wedding after all.”

Bruce’s heart sank. It took him a moment to gather his wits in an effort to speak again, but his first thought was of Tony and how thoroughly disappointed he was going to be. “May I ask why?”

“There has been a family emergency, unfortunately we cannot afford the time to prepare the food and come out to you… I’m sorry Doctor Banner.”

He heard the soft whoosh of Tony’s afterburners as Iron Man landed beside him, the face plate already sliding up and out of the way to reveal Tony’s face. He looked worried, but he didn’t speak yet. Bruce hated the worried look on Tony’s face, hated that he was going to be disappointed again. “Are you sure there’s nothing we can do to convince you otherwise?”

“I’m afraid not. We’ll be refunding your deposits of course, and I hope you can find someone else in time for your wedding.”

“Yes, thank you, I hope everything is okay,” Bruce ended the call when Elena hung up. He closed the phone and tucked it away with a sigh before he looked at Tony. “The caterers backed out.”

“What? Why?” Tony’s eyebrows knitted together. He was keeping his voice down as best he could but it was obvious that he was upset and a little angry at that announcement. Bruce cursed the watchful eyes around them that meant he couldn’t comfort Tony in public yet.

“Family emergency, they can’t make it anymore. They’re going to refund our deposits.”

“What kind of family emergency? I mean… is it something we can make less emergency-full?”

“They wouldn’t say,” Bruce shrugged and rubbed a hand over his face. Okay. They not only had to find caterers, they had to find a bakery to provide the cake, they had to find decorations and they had to find servers for the day. And they had two weeks to go to the wedding. Well. If nothing else they had options, they had talked to several caterers and even though it meant more NDA’s and more people involved, they could still do this. They could still make a go of this. But they had to get on it immediately. “Okay, maybe if we bring in one of the caterers who couldn’t do the cake, and source the cake somewhere else?”

“Okay. Alright…” Tony put a hand to his head but the helmet stopped him from running his fingers through his hair to help him think. The fact that he’d even tried gave away how stressed he was. That was his tell, his give away, and it made Bruce want to comfort him all the more. “I’ll get JARVIS on it now. We have a lot of calling around to do when we get home.”

Bruce gestured at the street and the mess that the previous day’s bomb had left. “We also have a lot more cleaning up to do,” he reminded Tony gently. They couldn’t focus on themselves until that was done, and they had a lot of work to do before they could leave.

“Yeah. Better get back to it,” Tony glanced at the street briefly, and then returned his attention to Bruce, his wide brown eyes still a little worried. “You’re alright though? No odd smells we should be worried about?”

“I haven’t picked anything up,” Bruce shook his head as he pulled on the work gloves to protect his hands while he was moving debris. Tony had made it clear that unless there was an immediate danger; The Other Guy was not going to be visiting today. Too soon after the last transformation, Tony understood how much he needed the rest. That day after the Chitauri he’d been so hungry and tired he’d barely even been able to keep his eyes open. That had been the first time they’d shared food too.

“Okay. Get me on the comm if you run into anything, big guy,” Tony winked and the face plate settled back down into position.

“Will do,” Bruce smiled. Then he dropped his voice to a whisper – soft enough for the suit to pick up with its enhanced systems but not loud enough for anyone else to hear them. “Lover boy.”

Iron Man glanced back. Bruce knew he’d be blushing, even if no one else was around to hear. Tony just… did. And then a couple of quick steps and Tony was flying off to return to work. It had been heartbreaking to have that news, but still a chance to flirt undetected with his lover in public was always appreciated.

Still, there was work to do. Bruce followed Tony back onto the street and went back to it.

The next few hours passed fairly quickly. Clearing debris and making the street safe for civilians again wasn’t always part of their duty, but HYDRA had a habit of leaving their tech in the most awkward of places and it seemed like nothing had changed when this splinter group had gone their own way from the main body. Bruce paused every once in a while to check his phone as Tony or JARVIS or both sent him a message with another potential caterer, or bakery, or service and he sent messages back to add them to the list of people to consider, or ruled them out.

It was mid-afternoon when he got a different kind of message from Tony. “Tell the caterer to keep the deposit.”

“Okay. What do I say if they ask why?”

“That we want them back on their feet as soon as possible, and hope they’ll consider doing something for the New Year’s Party,” Tony replied, attaching an image from the suit’s camera of a familiar object in unfamiliar surroundings. One of the bells that the caterers had shown them as a decoration sample, lying cracked under the rubble in a shop frontage, and a length of red, green and gold tinsel left covered in concrete dust, the colours muted to a shadow of their former selves.

He didn’t reply to Tony. He dialled the Parisi number in his phone.

There was a little confusion on the other end but finally Elena came to the phone and Bruce took the time to step to one side and focus on the call properly.

“Doctor Banner?”

“Elena. Mr. Stark and I would like you to keep the deposits.”

“Keep?” she echoed, obviously a little surprised. “But you know we can’t deliver anything for your wedding, there is simply too much going on here.”

“I know. Perhaps if you’re on your feet again by New Year’s you would consider providing some food for our party then. Otherwise, we’ll be more than happy to use your services in the future.”

“And the deposit…” she said cautiously. A little excited by the idea but obviously wary. Although Tony was generous to a fault, he was also a businessman and a shrewd one at that. He didn’t give out money for unfulfilled contracts just like that. “You simply wish us to keep it?”

“Yes. I’m sorry that your business suffered in the incident yesterday, was anyone hurt?”

She gasped. Bruce wasn’t sure why she hadn’t admitted the problem in the first place, pride perhaps? “Not badly, no. A few bruises, but nothing that needed an ambulance. This is… very generous of you and Mr. Stark.”

“We had a lot of fun at the tasting,” Bruce smiled, not mentioning that he’d had a lot of fun before it too. Especially when they’d been in the fabrication lab. The food had been perfect, they’d adhered to every request and even thought up a few additions and changes that had made everything better, and it was something that Tony and he were inclined to reward and encourage. “Please let me know when you’re all ready to open again, okay?”

“Oh yes, we will, thank you so much!” she sounded excited. He made a mental note to ask for more details when they did see the Parisis again.

“Merry Christmas, Elena.”

“And you too, Doctor Banner. Oh I hope you and Mr. Stark have the most wonderful wedding. I will call you as soon as we open again!”

“Thank you, Elena. I look forward to your call,” Bruce ended the call with a smile and sent Tony another message. “Let them know they can keep it. They’ll contact us when they’re open again.”

He barely had time to put his phone away before it chimed with an incoming message. “Perfect. Finishing up here then we can head to the office and back home.”

“Okay. Looks like we’re going to be busy reorganising things.”

 

“Yeah, not sure but I think we’re going to have to split this four ways at least to make it work, and that’s a lot of NDA’s to go out.”

“We can skip the one for the cakes if one of us picks it up on Christmas Eve. Do that on the way to the airport?”

“Yeah, we can do that. We’ll have to assemble it ourselves but that’s part of the adventure.”

“Tell Rhodey that it’s his job as best man.”

That got Tony laughing at last, and he sounded much more like himself over the comms unit. He could still hear a little of the tension in Tony’s voice though, even in that laughter. He was still disappointed over the change in their plans. Bruce would just have to distract him and take his mind off it. “Alright, time to head home.” Tony sounded very ready for home.

“Where should I meet you?” Bruce asked, stepping away from the rubble and the containers that they’d filled so far so that Tony would have a clear view of where he was.

“I’m coming to you, beautiful,” Tony responded. Unfortunately he’d chosen the team frequency and not their private frequency to broadcast that particular announcement and after thirty seconds of perfect silence, there was a soft snickering that sounded like Clint. Then a muffled yelp that definitely sounded like Clint courtesy of Natasha. Then the giggling continued.

“I’m waiting for you.”

“Right here,” Tony landed in his three point stance a few feet in front of Bruce, kicking up a little dust. That close, Bruce could feel the reverberation of the metallic sound in his chest, something that never failed to make the Hulk shift a little in the back of his mind. After a moment, all was quiet again and Tony was on the team line again. “Switching to the private frequency so some people – Barton – can stop giggling like a schoolgirl.”

Bruce laughed, adjusting the frequency on his comms unit to theirs. “Soon I’ll be able to greet you with “Hello Mr. Banner-Stark.”

“Mmmhm, we both will,” Iron Man picked Bruce up carefully, kicked off his thrusters and headed for their balcony. “Though I’d guess you’d be Doctor Banner-Stark. Argh, we’re going to be one of those couples.”

“Love,” Bruce said seriously, looping an arm around the suit’s shoulders and curling as close to his lover as he could. “We’ve been one of those couples for most of the last year at least. We’re just going to inflict it on other people now.”

“Well, when you put it like that it sounds like a challenge,” Tony chuckled as they landed on the balcony. He set Bruce carefully on his feet before moving to the platform to let JARVIS run the disassembly program.

“You mean it isn’t?” Bruce called, pulling the earpiece out of his ear carefully. The wind was always a little rougher on the balcony than on the ground, not quite loud enough to drown them out but enough that he had to speak up to be heard.

“Oh it definitely is, we need a point system.”

“We can work on that while we’re sourcing the rest of the things we need,” Bruce smiled up at Tony as the components of the suit were disassembled and returned to their storage systems to be recalibrated and recharged and refilled. It was like watching a dance, every sensor plate that Tony stepped on activating a different set of arms to remove another piece of the armor.

“Sounds like a suitable plan of distraction. So are eye rolling and sighing going to be two separate categories or are we amalgamating them into one broad body language category?”

“Oh two categories. Natasha does them separately.”

“She’ll be worth the most points, I think. Her or Phil.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that making Steve blush should count, too easy,” Bruce said as he watched Tony brushed himself off, although really the suit hadn’t done more than put a couple of wrinkles in his jeans. Then he ran a hand through his hair and gave himself away – still stressed. 

“We can leave him as half a point. Eventually he’ll build up a tolerance and we can let him rank up.”

Bruce held out his hand for Tony, standing at the end of the walkway. “Okay.”

Tony took the offered hand, stepping down off the walkway. He looked perfectly fine, completely normal, but he held onto Bruce’s hand tightly -- another tell. “Alright, so… let’s try to reorganise our wedding and maybe get some more ornaments on the tree.”

“I’ll try the caterers.”

“I’ll see what I can find for the decorations then,” Tony nodded and led him back inside.

As soon as the door was closed behind them, Bruce turned to wrap an arm around Tony, hugging him close and holding him. He never let go of that hand, though, using it as a gauge for how stressed his lover was. Tony practically curled into him, trying to hide and breathe all at once. “We can do this,” Bruce murmured against his ear reassuringly.

“We can,” Tony agreed, nodding. He clung to Bruce tightly. He could appear so with it, so calm and collected and still be as fragile as the thinnest glass, and no one would ever suspect a thing aside from Bruce. It was heartbreaking to see that vulnerability, that loss and longing that went so unfulfilled for so long. “I wanted this to be perfect though.”

Bruce brushed his lips over Tony’s temple. A gentle, tender little kiss, a reassurance. “Are you going to be there?”

“You know I am,” Tony gave him a look of surprise at even being asked the question.

“Sounds like it’ll be perfect to me.”

As Tony understood what Bruce was saying and just why he’d asked, he blushed red. Then he hid his face against Bruce’s neck again and closed his eyes. “But you were so happy about the puri and everything…”

“Tony, I’ll be happy no matter what we eat.”

“I know, Bruce. But I wanted to do that for you. Make it perfect. You deserve perfect.”

Bruce coaxed Tony into lifting his head gently, stroking the line of Tony’s chin with his thumb. “Tony. I have you. It doesn’t get any more perfect.”

Tony’s expression faltered briefly. For a moment he had a bright smile, a happy smile, one that let Bruce know he’d gotten through. But still, Tony was stressed and unhappy because the perfect thing that he’d created had begun to crumble. “You’re the perfect one. You’re the reason I want all of this.”

He gave Tony a soft, open mouthed kiss. “I just want you, Tony.”

That was what clinched it. Tony finally relaxed enough to wrap his arms around Bruce, letting himself be held and reassured, letting himself be comforted. “Are you going to be this wonderful every time my plans fall apart?”

“Yep. Part of being in love.”

“If you spend our entire wedded life feeding my ego like this, we’re going to need a separate place to store it.”

Bruce lifted himself on his toes, just enough to kiss Tony on the forehead. The majority of people would think Tony had too much of an ego, but he knew better. He knew the reassurance and the comfort that Tony needed. “Oh that would be terrible. You can keep it at the cabin. We’ll visit it for our anniversary.”

It was enough to make Tony laugh at least. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Bruce slid his hands along Tony’s arms to catch his hands. “Now. Let’s go get things fixed just in case Thor gets too hungry to stick around for the ceremony and has to go and raid a pop tart truck or something.”

“Right,” Tony laughed again, turning to head for the couch. “On it. Any second or third choices for decorations?

“Anything red, green and or gold will be good.”

“Alright, let’s get to work then.”

Bruce let Tony tug him to the couch and they settled in together on the couch, to repair the damage that the splinter group had done to their plans.


End file.
